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Senior Titans 'take care of business' against Loyola By Jon Kuiperij BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR 25 · Thursday, February 21, 2013 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.insideHALTON.com Minutes after seeing their school's junior team pull off a stunning upset, the Holy Trinity Titans seniors made sure to avoid one. Trinity won its second straight Halton senior boys' basketball title -- and fourth in the past seven years -- with a 65-50 victory over the Loyola Hawks Tuesday at Sheridan College. The Titans came into the contest as heavy favourites, having posted a pair of 17-point wins over Loyola in their previous two meetings this season, but weren't about to take anything for granted. That was especially true after Trinity's junior team finished off a 59-57 victory over the Bishop Reding Royals, a team considered by many as the top junior squad in the province, on the same Sheridan court. "Our juniors lost two games by (a combined 70 points) to BR and came in and upset them," said senior Titans guard Nolan Mackenzie. "We knew we had to take care of business." Business, as it often does for the Titans, began at the defensive end. Trinity scored the first 13 points of the contest, didn't allow a point until nearly five minutes into the game and held Loyola without a field goal until three minutes were gone in the second quarter. At that point, the Titans led by 15 points -- their eventual margin of victory. "We just worked hard on what we wanted to do to take them out of their rhythm," said Trinity coach Andrew Saulez, who focused his defensive strategy on shutting down Loyola star Jake Babic. "We work hard on our defence, and our guys like to play defence. We did a good job of executing where we wanted them to play, rather than where they wanted to play." Babic did not score his first basket until 2:30 remained in the first half, though he finished with 17 points. Adam Braunstein added 11 for the Hawks. Trevon McNeil paced the Titans with 21 points, Mackenzie had 19 and Regis Ivaniukas contributed 12. Trinity led 35-21 at halftime and 51-33 after three quarters. "Holy Trinity is a very strong team, very skilled, talented players. They work really hard, and defensively they did a great job on us," said Hawks coach Gary Laurin. "We couldn't get to the basket, our shots weren't dropping, they were rebounding. We didn't get second-chance opportunities, and they came down and made good on everything they ran at us." As the Halton champion, Holy Trinity should have an easier road through the Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference playoffs as it looks to earn a repeat trip to the OFSAA provincial AAAA championships. The Titans will host Hamilton Catholic finalist Bishop Tonnos in a GHAC semifinal Monday, beginning at 6 p.m. Loyola is still alive for OFSAA as well, since GHAC is eligible to send two teams to OFSAA this year. The Hawks will visit Hamilton Catholic champion Cardinal Newman in Monday's other GHAC semifinal. GHAC finalists will each be guaranteed a trip to OFSAA, though the GHAC final will still be played Tuesday for seeding purposes. The conference has two OFSAA spots because of Loyola's silver-medal showing at the AAAA tournament two years ago. With public school heavyweights like Eastern Commerce and Oakwood not participating in this year's OFSAA tournament because of the work-to-rule sanctions imposed by the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation, the door to the podium seems wide open for many Catholic schools. Particularly for the Titans, who are ranked third in Canada by basketball website North Pole Hoops. "We have a lot of guys who are graduating this year," said Mackenzie. "It's this year or never. That's our one goal, to medal at OFSAA." Laurin, for one, wouldn't be surprised to see it happen. "OFSAA's tough," he said. "It's five or six games, and it's a battle. Not always the best team wins, and there are a lot of variables with (that many) games in a short period of time. "Do I think they have an opportunity? Absolutely." OH NO YOU DON'T: Holy Trinity Titans player Omade Qaderi (in white) blocks Loyola's Spencer Marion Tuesday at Sheridan College. The Titans played excellent defence to earn their second straight Halton senior boys' basketball championship, posting a 65-50 win over the Hawks. MICHAEL IVANIN / SPECIAL TO THE OAKVILLE BEAVER HALTON MINOR FOOTBALL Saturday February 23rd 9am-4pm - at Sports Day, Milton Mall, 55 Ontario St., Milton Monday February 25th 6:30pm-8:30pm - at Recycled Reading, 171 Main St, Milton Registration: haltoncowboys.com Summer / Fall Ages 6-19 Tackle Football Rep/House League Minor Ball Hockey In Oakville 8TH SEASON WITH 650+PLAYERS AND OVER 40 TEAMS. LIMITED SPACE! 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